Saturday

“Who can separate us from the love of Christ?”–Rom 8:35

One of the nice things about living here is that on Saturdays there isn’t much to do. You have spent most of Friday cleaning up and cooking and on Saturday you have all this great food left over and you sit around and read or talk. No lawns to mow…

This morning I got up early and took a walk to Abraham’s Overlook. In this normally hectic city, there was almost no sound. Only a couple of Arab cars passed me and none of the normal sound of buses roaring up and down the road in front of the apartment. On my walk I encountered one jogger and two men walking to the local synagogue. It was a crisp, still morning.

After I came back to the apartment, Scott and Theresa and I talked about Judaism and what it is like to live under the law. Before anyone can come to Christ several things have to happen to him or her:

First, he has to begin to care that his life is or isn’t pleasing God.
Second, he has to realize that he isn’t going to please Him no matter how much he tries.
Third, he has to realize that wanting to please Him is not the same as actually pleasing Him and that the problem is with him, alone.
Fourth, he comes to realize that God has fixed the problem all by Himself.

Another of the neat things about living here is reading in the newspaper that archaeologists have discovered something else while digging in the dirt. A couple of years ago the Pool of Siloam was discovered after 2,000 years of liberal theologians saying that the lack of this Pool (that held 10,000 people) was another proof that the Bible was a bunch of fables. Well, the Pool has been discovered and you can visit it any time you want.

A few months ago, Zerubbabel’s daughter’s necklace with her name carved into the pendant was discovered near the Temple Mount. Archaeologists are now pretty sure they have discovered King David’s palace which, until now, has been more food for liberal theologians.

In this morning’s newspaper is the discovery of a seal belonging to Gedaliah, one of King Zedekiah’s ministers. This guy is listed in Jeremiah 38:1-5 as one of the men Jeremiah ticked off and who went to the king demanding Jeremiah’s death.

Fun stuff!

The couple I’m staying with (Scott & Theresa) have really grasped what it says in Romans 12 & Hebrews 13 about hospitality. They, and the Perrys (back in Crossville), are some of the most hospitable people I know. It’s what I always wanted my own family to be like. Something very spiritual happens when a family opens their home to others.